Everyone has an opinion about Pearce-Ford Tower. Love it or hate it, for many students at WKU, the 27-floor dorm is home.

Kit Tolbert, director of housing operations for Housing and Residence Life, said about 300 students renewed their housing in PFT last year of the about 860 that lived there.

HRL Coordinator Chris Jensen said this year they actually had a waiting list of students wanting to get in PFT.

“Students from all across campus have wanted to get in because of the amount of activity,” he said. “There’s always something going on.”

According to Tolbert, other popular reasons for students to move to PFT are that it gives them the option to live there year-round, and it’s the best chance for two friends requesting to live together to find an empty room because of the amount of space it has.

Tolbert said the number of students requesting to live in PFT has increased each year since the dorm was renovated in 2007.

HRL Director Brian Kuster said the goal of the renovations was to make the building more attractive to students. Among the additions were a food court, activities on the 27th floor and landscaping.

“We wanted to create an area where students could have interactions with their friends, in and outside of the building,” he said.

Louisville freshman Whitney Reed, a PFT resident, said hanging out in the area outside is nice because residents can visit with friends without bothering neighbors or roommates.

Because of its size, PFT houses more students than any other dorm on campus, with about 860 students living there at a time. Kuster said this large community can make it difficult to get to know everyone, but it allows for more diversity.

Reed said diversity helps take away some stereotypes.

“When you are living with so many different people, you learn more about yourself and about them,” she said.

Louisville freshman Codie Krystofiak, who lives on the 10th floor of PFT, said he rarely visits home since he’s been at WKU.

He doesn’t get homesick anymore because of the meaningful relationships he’s developed at WKU, and he said he considers PFT to be more of a home to him than his family’s place in Louisville.

Glasgow freshman Elizabeth Huffman, another PFT resident, said it isn’t fair for people who haven’t lived in PFT to assume it’s a bad place.